


Insight

by Naelyn



Series: Notes of a Laughing Knight [2]
Category: Merlin (TV)
Genre: Attempt at Humor, Canon Era, Everyone Loves Merlin (Merlin), Friendship, Gen, Gwaine Being Gwaine (Merlin), Insightful Gwaine, Intelligent Arthur Pendragon, Merlin's funny little feelings, POV Gwaine (Merlin), Protective Gwaine (Merlin), Some Merlin appreciation
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-07-05
Updated: 2020-07-05
Packaged: 2021-03-05 01:47:41
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,787
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25086406
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Naelyn/pseuds/Naelyn
Summary: “Gwaine and I were… pondering… on Merlin’s incredible flair.”Arthur discreetly snorted while Merlin frowned, mouthing ‘flair’ and frowning even further.“What Percival here means,” Gwaine sighed, taking pity on the knight’s lost expression, “is that we are quite admirable of you, Merlin–““Me?” said Merlin at the same time as Arthur said “Him?!”, but Gwaine continued all the same.“– and of your very impressive perception skills.”The term ‘skills’ seemed to be too much for Arthur since he no longer bothered to hide his snorting, and it seemed to upset Merlin as well as he was glancing at Gwaine, Percival and now Elyan respectively, brows furrowed.“Are you lot pulling a joke on me?” he finally asked. ‘‘Cause I can never tell, not when Percival’s involved.”or:Gwaine, sick of Arthur disregarding Merlin's frequent warnings, decides to take matters into his own hands. He questions Merlin about it, leading to some bonding time as the Knights begin to realise that there is more to Merlin than meets the eye.
Relationships: Gwaine & Merlin (Merlin), Knights & Merlin (Merlin), Merlin & Arthur Pendragon (Merlin)
Series: Notes of a Laughing Knight [2]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1852114
Comments: 29
Kudos: 469





	Insight

**INSIGHT**

It was a mystery to none of the knights that Merlin, servant to the King, had been gifted with some peculiar insight over things that surrounded him, an insight that had avoided them many a trouble since he’d taken to joining them on hunting trips and patrols. His one-of-a-kind intuition was a trait that most men envied in him, though few of the knights cared to admit it aloud or to even acknowledge how useful his gift could turn out to be.

Naturally, Gwaine didn’t count himself as one of those thick-headed men whose misplaced pride blinded them from the obvious, and so each time his friend shared one of his intuitions, he’d patiently wait – which was in itself an exploit, since he hardly considered himself a patient man – and keep his gaze carefully focused on his King’s face, awaiting the one moment when that glimpse of understanding would cross his face right before the battle began. And then, in the dead of night, when Arthur would be keeping watch, he’d hurry to the fire and, in his usual smug, mischievous tone, mutter a little ‘He _did_ tell you so’ and rejoice in the way his sovereign would scowl and cast a quick look at the spot where Merlin laid asleep, checking he hadn’t heard anything. Oh, he could be oh-so-predictable at times, and Gwaine _lived_ to get on his friends’ nerves. He spent his days teasing Percival on his build, Leon on his seriousness and Elyan on his sister’s beauty, and so he thought it only natural that Arthur should benefit from his attention as well. And as for as Merlin – well, he had yet to find something to tease Merlin about, since Arthur had a way of perpetually doing that in his stead, but surely he’d come up with something ; and if not, he could always attempt to seduce him. It always resulted in Merlin furiously blushing and the rest of the knights rolling their eyes or scowling at him, which pleased him just as much. _And_ it had the benefit of particularly annoying their King, an activity Gwaine never grew tired of.

But that was not the subject here. The subject here was Merlin’s perception, which, once again, had proven to be accurate with the attack from bandits that had fallen upon them a couple of minutes after his statement. Merlin didn’t even bother to try to persuade Arthur to stop the horses anymore; he’d simply enunciate in a clear voice a sentence like ‘Something’s going to happen’, sometimes being echoed by Gwaine’s equally weary tone, and then, quite obviously, _something_ would happen, and Gwaine would clap his mate on the back with non-concealed pride. And this case had been no exception.

As he was contemplating the fire from the camp they’d established earlier in the evening, Gwaine could still remember Merlin’s placid “I’ve a bad feeling about this”, Arthur’s unfazed retort of him having bad feelings about “everything”, and his manservant’s non-impressed stare and defeatist sigh. He could still remember the moment _all hell had broken lose_ as bandit cries had erupted from the sides and Merlin, imperturbable, had let himself slide from his saddle and reluctantly grabbed a blade, grumbling something about “pig-headed kings” and “freezing limbs”. Oh, yes, he was one of a kind, and if there was one thing that truly fascinated Gwaine, then it had to be his reactions in the face of danger. Or even his reactions to basically everything. Gwaine had a habit of easily getting bored, though he hardly ever remained bored for long, and each time he could feel the claws of boredom closing around his spirits, he’d glance at his friend, and the way he muttered words no one knew about or adopted a pensive stance, and automatically, his boredom would vanish. Yet another one of Merlin’s unsuspected power.

To go back to the events of the day, they’d obviously defeated the bandits and Arthur had made a remark on Merlin miraculously not sustaining any injuries in spite of his legendary clumsiness, and so forth – end of the story in their King’s perspective. But of course, Gwaine wasn’t going to leave it that way. Thanks to the bandits (though he’d never dare saying that out loud), he had yet _another_ occasion to piss his King off and, quite frankly, one could hardly refuse such an opportunity, no? Gwaine certainly couldn’t – and wouldn’t.

And so there he was, sat about the fire, pondering on the right way to bring up the subject of Merlin’s fabulous instincts and Arthur’s not-so-fabulous pride. Perhaps he could talk about the last time Merlin’s instincts had proven true, when he’d anticipated the boar’s attack? Or _maybe_ it would be better to –

“Everything alright there, Gwaine?” Percival called from across the fire, raising a curious – _and_ defiant – eyebrow.

“Why wouldn’t it be?”

At this, the knight’s face broke into a mischievous grin, and Gwaine knew that he’d walked straight into his trap.

_Ah! Let him have that one!_

“Oh, you just seemed to be roaming that head of yours quite violently, ‘tis all. Wouldn’t want you to hurt yourself,” he said, seemingly very proud of his jest, and then winking to show that he was joking.

Percival wasn’t usually one to jest loudly, or to jest at all, which was probably why he’d said those words in a low, almost intimate tone… and probably why Gwaine couldn’t find it in him to be offended. He was all too happy to finally have his friend revealing his true self. Maybe he and Percival were more alike than he’d originally thought.

“I’m _contemplating_ the options,” Gwaine finally said, his eyes flicking back to the flames Merlin had conjured so easily, with the simple friction of two stones.

 _Thank God for Merlin_ , he thought. Which was specifically why he had to avenge him – though he had to admit, Merlin did a good job annoying Arthur on his own already.

 _“Contemplating the options?_ ” Percival repeated. “Options to what? To piss off Arthur?”

His tone was joking, but his eyes were genuinely curious, and so Gwaine leaned closer to him and, confidentially, confessed:

“I’m sick of him never heeding Merlin’s warnings. I mean, c’mon! Why’s he still doubting him? They’ve known each other for _years_!”

Percival nodded, pensive, and Gwaine congratulated himself for having shared his concerns with the knight. Percival, _at times_ , could show to be surprisingly clever. Now, Gwaine knew he sounded awful for saying that, especially since _he_ wasn’t the brightest sword in the armoury, but facts remained facts, and Percival, more than once, had surprised him with his ideas.

“Eh, Merlin!” Percival suddenly called, and a dark-haired head jerked up from where Merlin had been filling his own bowl with the remainders of stew.

Gwaine could clearly see his friend’s face grow pale and his eyes widening in what seemed like offense tinged with a hint of revolt. Reflexively, the boy brought the bowl closer to his chest, probably not aware of how protective the gesture appeared from where they were, and Gwaine understood he thought they were after his stew.

His first thought was, _Merlin! How could you think so lowly of us?_

But then he remembered one particular journey when they’d decided to pull a joke on Merlin, each time asking him for more stew, and he concluded that Merlin had never completely forgotten it, which, being himself quite attached to food, he could understand quite well.

Fortunately for all, Percival had no such wish, and, judging from the fierce expression on the boy’s face, Gwaine doubted anyone could have taken the food away from him at that instant anyway.

“Come and sit with us!”

“Yeah, come!” Gwaine instantly picked up, offering the spot by his side.

_Time for revenge has come._

Merlin seemed to read something in his stare because when he approached, it was almost reluctantly, and with a firm grip on the bowl.

“Right,” he muttered, eyeing both Percival and Gwaine suspiciously.

_And now, once again! Insight, insight, insight!_

“What on _Earth_ are you clutching that bowl so tightly for? It’s not like one of us is going to suddenly jump and snatch it from you!”

It was Arthur, who was quirking an eyebrow at his manservant and probably attempting to hide a half-amused, half-exasperated smirk.

Merlin gave him a ‘Are you _really_ sure about that?’ look before grumbling “I wouldn’t put it past you,” and finally sliding on the ground by Gwaine’s side with a little sigh of relief. Truth be told, he seemed exhausted from the ride, eyes a bit red and posture a bit slumped, and Arthur must have seen it as well because he didn’t push the teasing any further.

Already after a few bites, Merlin seemed to lose a bit of his grumpiness and he turned towards Gwaine, a slight smile tugging at his lips.

“So _apparently_ , you were doing some thinking?” Then his smile widened. “Arthur’s tried that as well a few times, but it didn’t go all that well, so–“

“Hey!” the King exclaimed, but with no real animosity to his tone.

Merlin turned innocent eyes towards him. “My lord?” he said.

Their eyes locked and both remained that way for a few instants before separating, both content judging from the smiles they both had. Arthur, for one, seemed much more relaxed than earlier, finally allowing his stance to relax and his face to lose a bit of the King’s severity. Only Merlin could get him to do that, Gwaine distractedly noticed.

“Indeed,” Percival said, casting Gwaine a heavy look, “Gwaine and I were… pondering… on Merlin’s incredible _flair_.”

Arthur discreetly snorted while Merlin frowned, mouthing ‘flair’ and frowning even further.

“What Percival here means,” Gwaine sighed, taking pity on the knight’s lost expression, “is that we are quite admirable of _you_ , Merlin–“

“ _Me?_ ” said Merlin at the same time as Arthur said “ _Him?!_ ”, but Gwaine continued all the same.

“– and of your very impressive perception skills.”

The term ‘skills’ seemed to be too much for Arthur since he no longer bothered to hide his snorting, and it seemed to upset Merlin as well as he was glancing at Gwaine, Percival and now Elyan respectively, brows furrowed.

“Are you lot pulling a joke on me?” he finally asked. ‘‘Cause I can never tell, not when Percival’s involved.”

“A _joke_?!” Gwaine repeated, feigning surprise. “Course not. We’d never do that!”

“You’d _definitely_ do that,” Merlin sighed, shaking his head. “Alright, so it’s a joke. Come straight to the point, please?”

“It’s no joke!” Elyan protested, having visibly picked up on Gwaine and Percival’s game. “We’re frankly curious! How come you’re that good at anticipating attacks?”

“And not just attacks!” Gwaine carried on, not giving time for Merlin to cut him. “Orienteering, as well! It’s like you’ve got a compass inside that tiny head of yours, I swear.”

“ _And_ you get those first feelings on people and their intentions,’ Percival added. “You instantly seem to know whenever someone has ill intentions towards our King.”

“Not to mention how you act around the horses, or just nature. You even knew that Arthur slaying the unicorn was wrong – how _did_ you?”

“That’s true. Sometimes, you’ll just stop, and look at the trees, and it’s as though you were closer to them than you are to us. As though, just for a couple of seconds, you were somewhere else.”

Progressively, the original subject, Merlin’s warning each time they were attacked, had given place to other topics concerning the boy they’d each taken notice of, and what had begun as a friendly banter had progressively turned into something much more genuine: sincere interest in a friend’s abilities.

Merlin, now at the heart of the conversation, blushed. He was visibly not expecting them to have noticed so much.

And while Gwaine had half-expected their King to grow annoyed, instead, Princess said:

“All that is true, Merlin. I’ll admit it, I’m quite curious as to how you do it as well.”

And there was no teasing in his tone. No malice, no threat. Simple, honest interest. An interest all of the knights shared as they were gazing at Merlin as if seeing him for the first time and realising that there was so much more to him than what appeared at first sight.

Oddly enough, the thought of Merlin being more than that didn’t upset Gwaine. It just made him even more curious, and eager to find out more about his friend. Lancelot had seemed to know him a lot, if not by heart, but with him gone… More than once, Gwaine wondered who the boy confided in, and who knew the true depth of his soul. And now that Merlin was blushing under the weight of their stares, he was beginning to wonder if there was anyone who _cared_. Did anyone ever ask him questions about him? Inquire about his habits? Take interest in who he was? Judging from the dazed look on Merlin’s face, such things did not seem to happen very often. How long had it been since somebody had tried to get to know him? To find him out?

And Arthur must have come to the same conclusion as Gwaine, because he gently invited Merlin to talk.

“You know, Merlin, while there are times when I think you’re a complete idiot, other times, you reveal yourself to be… I don’t know what the exact word would be… wise? Maybe even wiser than all of us combined.”

Well, invited him to talk in his usual teasing manner. But Merlin didn’t seem to care – he knew him well enough to read between the lines by now.

“It’s not that interesting, really,” Merlin softly smiled, playing with a strand of grass at his feet without uprooting it.

That was yet another thing that Gwaine had noticed about his friend: he _never_ hurt the things around him, instead treating them with care and respect.

“Come _on_ , _Mer_ lin! We know that each time you say that, it means that you’ve got something actually interesting to say.”

“Alright, alright!” Merlin conceded. “But there’s not much to tell! It’s just – I’m just…”

He sighed, then took a last bite of stew.

“In your own time, _Mer_ lin,” Arthur muttered, faking bored disinterest, but his tone held no small amount of curiosity.

The knights snorted.

“Well, when it comes to intuitions of an ill coming, I’m afraid I really can’t explain it,” Merlin seriously began. “I just get this tingling feeling down my neck, and I can _tell_ that we’re being watched. It’s truly just an intuition, some sort of… awareness of evil. A warning. And the same thing goes with places and people.” Then, glancing up at Arthur who was staring at him intently: “And, well, as for those who wish to do him harm, most of them aren’t actually being _discreet_ about it and yet I seem to be the only one to notice – it’s a wonder you’ve managed to survive so long before meeting me, sometimes I wonder how you did it!”

“How I did…“ Arthur seemed to believe he was hallucinating. “ _Merlin_ , reassure me, you _do_ know that I’m a talented swordsman trained to kill since birth, yes? And you’re – well –“ He vaguely gestured at Merlin, unable to find the accurate words to describe what he saw. “You,” he concluded.

“Me, as in someone exceedingly wise and with marvellous instincts?” Merlin mischievously proposed. “C’mon, you’ve said it yourself!”

He was simply teasing, probably trying to change the topic, but Gwaine could see that he did not actually believe himself to be that wise – or if he did, it was not something he took pride in bragging about. Merlin didn’t do bragging. He did rambling, and blushing, and acting like a fool, but never bragging.

“And what about your connection to nature?” Elyan intervened, surely knowing that if he didn’t, manservant and king would most certainly engage in one of their unending banters.

“Oh, that.” Merlin’s whole face lightened, as if he were much more at ease with this subject than he had been with the other one.

He looked around him and smiled contentedly. For an instant, the knights exchanged an equally perplexed look – once more, the manservant seemed to be seeing much more than they did. And the look on his face brought Gwaine joy; he truly seemed _at peace_ , a feeling Merlin deserved to feel at all cost. None of the knights dared interrupt him from his contemplation, feeling that it would be wrong, and when Merlin stared back, his eyes were filled with warmth.

“When I look at them,” he finally said. “The trees. The leaves. Each animal, great or small. The sky, the earth, the sea… They’re not just the sky and the earth and the sea, not to me. They’re _more_ than that _._ More than anything we can possibly conceive. They’re here, surrounding us, and lots of people scarcely pay them any attention. We lock ourselves in our castles and fortresses and build high walls to hide them from our view… but they exist, just as much as we do – _more_ than we do, actually. Some of these trees have been standing here for centuries. They’re older than men, wiser, sturdier, and they’ve seen – just to think of all the things that they’ve seen! Arthur, they’ve seen kings rise and fall, empires being built and crumble, lovers unite and part; they’ve seen _the world_. They are stronger, and more aware, than any of us could ever imagine and ever hope to be. Wiser than any of us combined. And yet they stand here, inches from us, and we scarcely ever notice them. We take them for granted, when really, we shouldn’t. Can you imagine a life without trees? Insects? Wind? Sure, we complain about it often – wind’s too rough, sun’s too hot… but the truth is, we _need_ them, and they’re here. Some of them are here to last forever, but at least – at least they’ve got each other.”

At this, Merlin’s face darkened, his eyes filling with emotions none of the knights could name, and he swallowed, gaze resting on Arthur only.

“These trees have seen the world be born and will probably live to the day it’ll collapse, and yet they’re still trees. They’ve still got trunks, and bark, and leaves. Their leaves still fall for autumn and are reborn in spring. They flower in summer and welcome snow in winter. In spite of what they’ve seen, they haven’t lost what they are, and that – it gives me hope. A strange kind of faith. And – yeah. The thought that they’ll always be here brings me solace. Everything in this world depends on them, but nobody ever admits it out loud. Their role is essential, and yet, at times, it’s as though they were invisible. But they’re together.”

Then he cleared his throat and said on a lighter but no less sincere tone:

“And as for the unicorn, it felt special just to look at it. I felt – lucky. Unbelievably lucky and privileged. And I think you felt it too, Arthur, when we saw it last.” He shrugged. “And as for animals and how much I hate hunting, I just don’t understand why you insist on hunting for fun, on hunting this nature that has given us so much. That’s all.’”

He smiled softly.

The knights all stared at him in unconcealed awe.

“You’ve given this much thinking, Merlin,” Gwaine finally said.

“Not really,” the boy shook his head. “When I see nature, I don’t _think_ that – I just feel all of those things at once. It was quite hard, putting it all into words. “On seeing the stunned expressions on the knights’ faces, he joked. “Now you’ll never want to ask me anything again.”

“No, no!” the knights were quick to retort. “On the contrary…”

“Want to hear me ramble about the trees and the earth some more?” he chuckled.

“Surprisingly, I don’t think I would mind that much. You’ve got a unique way of seeing things,” Percival noted.

“I’m not so sure about that.”

“Nah, you do, mate,” Gwaine said. “You really, really do.”

“Right…”

He played with his spoon for a while, the stew forgotten in his bowl, cheeks blushing, and Gwaine realised that he’d totally forgotten his original purpose: to tease their King. He felt no urge to do that anymore, still under the shock of his friend’s words. Did Merlin really feel all of those things at once? How could he _feel_ all of that, and yet still manage to be… well, to be Merlin? Gwaine hardly ever thought that much. Things were the way they were, and he was alright with that. He didn’t stop to wonder how old this tree was or what achievements this one ant had. Should he? Did that make him a terrible person? He liked to think of himself as someone down-to-earth, who saw the world around him with no grand filter making knights appear golden and servants appear like dust. He rejoiced in a life of no illusion, and liked to consider himself quite good at keeping a firm grip on things. He didn’t idealise the world around him – what good would it bring? He saw things exactly as they were – brown and grey and red. He liked to put names of things and call them that way.

And yet, Merlin’s description, as abnormal as it might have seemed, didn’t ring like an illusion to his ears. It ringed surprisingly true, like a truth he’d always had right under his eyes, but never actually bothered to look at. It had been there and that had been it.

Gwaine was no poet. He didn’t stop to look at things and rewrite them in words. He knew a pretty lass or lad when he saw one, and had no difficulty composing a few verses for them, but it was not like he actually _believed_ in what he said. He could charm a lass all she wanted on the beauty of her eyes, similar to that of the stars, but hadn’t actually _seen_ the stars up close, and so his words were merely playful, superficial.

Sometimes, he wished he could believe in things, too, with such an intensity ; believe in the beauty of nature, in the fairness of kings, in the legitimacy of a god… and though he certainly did not believe in the last one, Merlin and Arthur had begun to give him faith in the first two.

No, Gwaine wasn’t a man who saw perfection where there was none. For all the games and plays he took part in, he remained a man of truth. A man of blunt, unsharpened honesty. Which was probably why he was so upset by Merlin’s words, because they’d rung true to his ears. Few things in his life had ever rung truer. It rang as true as the day Arthur had made him a knight; even truer, perhaps.

He wasn’t quite sure how he felt about that yet.

“You know, _Mer_ lin…” Arthur’s voice suddenly began. “Sometimes I flatter myself with thinking that I know most things about you – your habit of doing this or that, your irremediable clumsiness, your inability to lie to my face in a convincing manner –, and yet, every once in a while, you still find a way to surprise me. I wonder how you do that; I truly do.”

He seemed genuinely intrigued.

“You give me far too much credit, Sire,” Merlin replied teasingly. “You’re not _that_ hard to surprise.”

“He _does_ surprise you every time there’s an attack, though,” Gwaine intervened, unable to stop himself.

 _What?_ Merlin had been teasing Arthur right in front of him; it was far too tempting to join in the banter!

“Excuse me, Gwaine?”

Percival sent him a warning look, but Gwaine ignored it.

“Why, it’s true! You keep calling him _useless_ and rolling your eyes whenever he says he’s got a feeling, but in the end, he happens to be right _every single damn time_ , and yet you _still_ tell him to keep his mouth shut even though everybody else knows that he’s right!”

Leon, who had so far kept silent, exchanged a quick look with Arthur who, surprisingly, appeared more surprised than offended. Then Arthur glanced at Merlin, and they both burst into silent laughter at the same time. Gwaine, who hadn’t yet taken notice of this, searched the rest of the knights’ gazes.

“What? Don’t look at me like that, y’all know I’m right! And I’ll have you know it g rather irritating after a while, so if you could just pull yourself together – wait, why are you two laughing?”

While Leon at least had the decency to look down, blushing, Merlin and Arthur had no such remorse, laughing harder each time their gazes connected.

“I… I don’t understand,” Percival said, a bit panicked.

“Neither do I,” Elyan sighed.

‘Would you care to explain, _Leon_?” Gwaine accusingly asked.

“Wait, you really thought that Arthur didn’t know?” Leon blurted out.

“So, what? He ignores Merlin each time on purpose? Yeah, right. That’s just Arthur trying to protect his pride. Good shot, though.”

“Well…” 

“He knows,” Merlin said, finally calming down. “We’ve got these code names, so when I’ll say that I’ve a bad feeling about something, Arthur knows it means there are bandits…”

“… and when he says that something’s going to happen, it means that there are animals,” Arthur continued, still with that stupid grin on his face.

“… so yeah, it’s just turned into some sort of game between us,” Merlin shrugged.

The two of them exchanged a final glance that succeeded in raising anger in Gwaine’s spirit.

“And you didn’t see fit to tell any of us?”

“Well, _Leon_ knew!”

“Leon!” Gwaine exclaimed, casting the man a betrayed look. “And why not us?”

“Well, Gwaine, you’re not specifically _discreet…_ ”

“I wasn’t asking you, Princess!”

“Look, Gwaine –“

“And you! You, Merlin! Here I was, defending your honour!”

“I couldn’t quite put it like that, though I’m grateful, I really am. But don’t worry, I’m used to Arthur bullying me on a daily basis –“

“I don’t _bully_ you –“

“Well, Sire, you do sometimes display a certain sort of condescendence –“

“Stop trying to change the subject, Leon! This is about Merlin’s betrayal!”

“I have to side with Gwaine on that one; you _could_ have told us.”

“And what’s that for a strategy anyway? _Yeah, alright, let’s not tell half the team about this!_ Great teamwork, bravo!”

“The last time we told you to be discreet, Gwaine, you shouted, I quote, _I know about the king’s most inner secrets_. No wonder no one ever tells you anything.”

“Now that’s just hurtful.”

“People. People, please.”

“Not now, Merlin. You’ve gotta wait for your turn.”

“But I –“

“Let him finish, _Mer_ lin, or we’ll spend the whole night at it.”

“Not wrong.”

“I’m feeling _betrayed_ , folk, alright? So the least you could do is listen to my complaints!”

“Did he just call me _folk?_ I’m the King of Camelot, for heaven’s –“

“So now how am I supposed to piss the King of Camelot off, eh?”

“I’m pretty sure there’s a law somewhere about never putting _piss off_ and _King of Camelot_ in the same sentence as well…”

“Yeah, and I’m pretty sure that there’s another law about never betraying your friends, but Merlin must’ve skipped that one!”

“Can I speak now?”

“Not yet, _traitor_. See, what I don’t get is, why didn’t you tell me? You made me look a fool! How long have you been trusting in Merlin’s intuitions anyway?”

“A couple months, though technically we came up with the first code name six weeks ago”

“Listen to me, please. I’ve got an intuition.”

“Haha. Yeah, right. You may fool me once, but never twice. Nice try, though.”

“And to be frank, now’s not the time to be making jokes about this, Merlin. Have you no shame? We’re discussing Gwaine’s inner, sensitive self!”

“ _Thank_ you, Percival – now, you just wait a sec –“

“But I’ve got an int –“

“I hate to agree with Percival, but he’s right – now’s really not the time, _Mer_ lin.”

“You hate to agree with _anyone_ , Arthur.”

“Quite fair.”

“No, no, no, no, I’m not joking. Arthur, listen to me. An _intuition._ ”

“For Christ’s sake – _no._ “

“For Christ’s sake – _yes_.”

“They’re mocking us once more, aren’t they?”

“They aren’t even trying to be _subtle_ about it!”

“Unbelievable, really!”

“Let’s just ignore them!”

“Wh-what does _intuition_ stand for?”

“Don’t fall in their petty little games, Leon.”

“Evil sorcerer aiming to kill Arthur, Leon. That’s what it stands for.”

“And you couldn’t tell us that any sooner? _Mer_ lin, you _idiot!_ ”

**THE END**

**Author's Note:**

> Hi! Here's my first Merlin fanfic.  
> I honestly had a lot of fun writing from Gwaine's perspective and making him appear as more observant than the series gives him credit for :) Obviously, it's only my interpretation of the show and its characters, and I'd be more than pleased to hear about your opinion as well!  
> Might be read as part of series 4, but I didn't think much about it as I was writing it. It's just some bonding time between Merlin and the knights, with them discovering that Merlin is special and yet not knowing of his magic :)  
> Thanks for reading!  
> Eager to know your opinion!
> 
> -Naelyn


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